Google and Samsung swing for the fences with 2560×1600 Nexus 10 tablet

Cortex A15 chip and 300ppi display make the new tablet a contender.

The Google Nexus 10 with Android 4.2 is 8.9mm thin and weighs 1.33 pounds (606 grams), making it a bit lighter than the Retina iPads.

Google

The Android news keeps coming in spite of Google's cancelled Android event—the company has just taken the wraps off of the Nexus 10 tablet, the 10-inch follow-up to the well-reviewed Nexus 7 tablet introduced in June. Unlike its ASUS-made cousin, the new Nexus 10 was manufactured by Samsung with Google's input, and will be available for $399 (16GB) and $499 (32GB) when it goes up for sale on November 13.

The tech in the new tablet is definitely top-shelf material: it features one of Samsung's new Cortex A15-based Exynos 5 chips clocked at 1.7 GHz, and its quad-core Mali-T604 GPU helps to drive a 10.055-inch PLS display with a resolution of 2560x1600. This 300 pixel-per-inch screen has four times the number of pixels in a 1280x800 screen and edges out the Retina iPad's 264 pixels per inch. The tablet's CPU should compare favorably to the Apple-designed CPU cores in its A6 and A6X processors, and the GPU should at least be playing in the same field as the A5X and A6X—we won't know for sure how they all shake out until we actually have hardware in-hand to test with.

Other specs common to high-end Android tablets are also present: 2GB of RAM, storage capacities starting at 16GB, NFC, 802.11n, and Bluetooth 4.0. There are front and rear-facing cameras (at 1.9 and 5 megapixels, respectively). It also has a 9,000mAh battery that Google says is good for nine hours of use. Like the Nexus 7, it lacks a microSD card slot, so the amount of storage you buy with it is the amount that it's stuck with—it does have micro USB and micro HDMI ports, however. It's also running the enhanced version of Jelly Bean, Android 4.2, and as part of the Nexus program should get prompt operating system updates for the foreseeable future.

This tablet is the first-ever 10-inch tablet to bear the Nexus branding, but it's not the first 10-inch tablet to run stock Android and get prompt updates: the honor belongs to the Motorola Xoom, which Google and Motorola released to showcase Honeycomb in early 2011. We had mixed feelings about the Xoom in our original review, but we were more impressed when we re-reviewed it after its Jelly Bean update rolled out—we called it "the right software in search of the right hardware," and as long as it doesn't inherit the chintzy, flexible plastic of Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1, the Nexus 10 might just be that hardware.

Update: the original version of this article said that the Nexus 10 had a Super AMOLED display; it actually uses a plane-to-line switching (PLS) display.

Sounds great, and I love Android but I am increasingly relegating it to my phone usage only. (Galaxy Note 2.)

Now don't get me wrong, it's awesome on there, and that phone is a joy to use but the larger Android tablets just don't have the apps.

I have been hoping for years that would get corrected, but I just sold my Transformer Infinity and I am using my Retina iPad when I need a larger tablet. Why?

eBay app on Android? Blown up phone version. iPad version? Designed for iPad and works and looks great.Facebook app on Android? Blown up phone version. iPad version? Much better.Unfortunately, that's just etc, etc, etc.

I hope this tablet sells like gangbusters and that is remedied, but I'm not sure at that price point. I hope to be wrong!

Lack of an SD card slot is such a "fuck you" to whoever buys this. I find that sort of attitude really disappointing from Google. Not that I like it any better from Apple, but I've long since come to expect it from them.

I had been hoping that the Nexus 10 tablet would have been the tablet for me, but the lack of a microSDHC/microSDXC slot is a complete turn off for me. At this point, I'm probably going to wait for an updated Transformer.

I'm sure they're making no money at that price, but $399 still feels like too much. Throw in an SD card slot, and I'd be tempted.

$399 is too much, for specs that match and beat the iPad (and most every other tablet too), all while being $100 less?

This sounds like a solid buy for me, had I not purchased the Transformer Infinity a month ago

I'm very interested in seeing how the ARM Mali-T604 performs. I think the performance will end up falling somewhere in between the A5X/A6 and A6X GPU, which may limit things somewhat considering the Nexus 10 has a higher resolution than the iPad. Still with Jelly Bean's graphical acceleration, as long as the UI stays fluid, that shouldn't impact the experience.

Lack of an SD card slot is such a "fuck you" to whoever buys this. I find that sort of attitude really disappointing from Google. Not that I like it any better from Apple, but I've long since come to expect it from them.

SD support is basically phased out from Android. You'll still see some OEMs adding it on, but it won't be in new Nexus devices and support for it will probably get even more awkward then it already is over time.

I'm not loving the look of the device (reminds me of G3 iBook) but the specs are great, and Jellybean is just worlds apart from the older versions of Android in terms of being smooth and enjoyable to use. I really want something that can replace my laptop (12-inch-ish screen and a keyboard), but this is tempting.

Don't get be wrong, it sounds like a great deal, but I fail to understand the disadvantage of having a slot - is it just price?

Its basically because having SD support means that you have to have even more storage partitions, which is awkward because Android doesn't have the notion of a user exposed file system. So you end up in a situation where user's files can end up in any of several partitions and there is no simple way for someone to figure out which is which, why one is full even though the system has plenty of free space, or even a way to fix it without using 3rd party tools.

Samsung just borked their own tablet with this. No need to consider that Galaxy Note now. Not even 3 months having it out as well.

I'm certainly intrigued, but skeptical depending on the amount of apps that will end up supporting this resolution, as well as the net battery life which tends to be sucked out via Android compared to iOS.

The lack of SD card is most likely a profit-based venture. If they can get you to upsell $100 for an additional 16 GB of space (cost to them- perhaps $5), they'll do it every time. The 16 GB is probably sold near cost, whereas the 32 has a decent margin on it, I'd think.

Don't get be wrong, it sounds like a great deal, but I fail to understand the disadvantage of having a slot - is it just price?

Its basically because having SD support means that you have to have even more storage partitions, which is awkward because Android doesn't have the notion of a user exposed file system. So you end up in a situation where user's files can end up in any of several partitions and there is no simple way for someone to figure out which is which, why one is full even though the system has plenty of free space, or even a way to fix it without using 3rd party tools.

I have never found sd card support awkward in Android, the system seamlessly combines the data from the on board and external storage so the gallery, video and music applications simply show one large collection of items. Managing the file systems doesn't need third party tools either, the on board file manager can correctly differentiate the different file sources and mounting the phone over msc also allows the storage systems to be managed individually. User files are not randomly scattered across the system, they are placed in exactly the same place they would be in a phone without sd card support while I put the data I want on the sd card which is normally just media items. Or manual backups which means if the phone dies completely, my data doesn't all die with it (some stuff is synced online, recorded video is generally too big for that)

I think as mentioned above the more straightforward explanation for the lack of sd card support is that Google want you to use their services. I just hope Samsung keep up the expandable storage on their own devices, not only have I had no problems at with it (nor know anyone who has), but also very much benefited from being able to take much more advantage of the large high definition screen and decent processing capabilities. It means I can have a decent collection of items stored on the phone and don't need to stream them through wifi/3G which even if the wireless data is available, it still means the device uses more power. The cost of expansion is also significantly less, the upgrade cost from a Nexus 7 8GB to 16GB here was around the same cost as a 64GB mini-sdhc.

IMO they should have added an SD slot (preferable full size) on the 32GB model. Since there is no model above, there is no more incentive drive margins with flash sales. If anything it would be extra incentive to buy the more expensive model.

It would be great to use these for photo preview, popping a card from the camera into the big screen tablet to check out photos.

Why?Why not have an article on the fact that no one can use the latest versions of Android because they are never actually available, and talk about Google updating Android is pointless for the existing userbase.

I'm still waiting for JB to become available for my S3. Not even considering to look for an update for my Galaxy Tab 2.

Unfortunately I have another month to wait for the Acer W700 to come out with Windows 8 so I can have a device which actually gets updates and is useful.

Wow, even higher resolution than the Retina iPad? I want to play with one of these.

Man, I hope they are throwing some much at remedying the tablet app issue. I mean, with that screen blown up phone apps aren't going to cut it...

Maybe not. You'd be buying this for the software -not the hardware.And there are very few Android apps written for tablets. The vast majority are scaled phone apps -which don't scale well on tablets. There seems to be no incentive for developers to write for the plethora of platforms out there. They pick a few and cross their fingers with regard to the rest.

The existing Android apps on a 300 dpi screen of this size are guaranteed to look like crap.

Samsung just borked their own tablet with this. No need to consider that Galaxy Note now. Not even 3 months having it out as well.

I'm certainly intrigued, but skeptical depending on the amount of apps that will end up supporting this resolution, as well as the net battery life which tends to be sucked out via Android compared to iOS.

The lack of SD card is most likely a profit-based venture. If they can get you to upsell $100 for an additional 16 GB of space (cost to them- perhaps $5), they'll do it every time. The 16 GB is probably sold near cost, whereas the 32 has a decent margin on it, I'd think.

IMO the Note 10.1 wasn't an awesome tablet even before this thing was announced, but you're right - at least the N7 wasn't aimed straight at ASUS' Transformer tabs.

Damnit Google WHY!? I know you want to push the cloud on us but a lot of us like having expandable storage for future proofing and not to mention the cross platform benefits that microSD provides.

Same reason as Apple. So you will pay $100 for 16GB of flash and give them better margins.

Actually, from a developer's and user's perspective, it'll add up to a good thing. Frankly Android is well above the "over-engineered" watermark, and SD card is a perfect example of how Android's supreme flexibility is also its undoing.

Consider:1. Android is by nature a multitasking system, meaning there are many application running in the background for one reason or another, this by itself is a good thing2. SD card is a great invention, users can buy SD card that a fraction of the cost of built-in memory, and swap them while the phone is on, this by itself is also a good thing

*But*, when you add 1 and 2 together, there's just that many more chances that an app would blow up in users' faces: So an app was running in the background and processing photos on the SD card to be upload to Dropbox/SkyDrive/whatever, and bang the user removes the SD card or that the SD card wasn't inserted in the first place, then what happens? Now unless the app was designed to handle this rare but quite real event, otherwise the app would explode when it tried to read the next image.

Of course, the app should be better written and listen to SD card add/remove event and act appropriately, but when you factor in all the other stuff that Android's flexibility brings, it takes a lot of work just to bring Android's flexibility (which also includes its myriad manufacture, theme, OS version, screen sizes, CPU speed... so on and so on and so on) down to a manageable level. The time spent here meant less time to spent on actual features and *gasp* real tablet support.

There are too many such flexibility v.s. complexity issues in Android to list, but sufficiently to say that even Google's star GMail app would misbehave (though not crash) from time to time on my Galaxy Nexus, that really tells me that even Google itself have issues with it.

So all in all I welcome changes that reduces Android's inherent complexity. And considering how ridiculousness affordable most Android devices are, I personally have no problem paying a little more to get that extra 8GB/16GB storage if I need them.

About the 299ppi, I presume it has been calculated from the 10.1" diagonal size claimed in your article. Where does this info come from? (maybe an extrapolation from the Galaxy Note 10.1?) Looking at the google blog, the size appears as 10.055", which would translate to 300.23ppi.

2560x1600 on a 10" screen? There are more pixel than my 28" 2560x1440 monitor. What applications would be practical for this kind of density? Is Google going to offer magnifier glasses as an accessory?

It's exactly four times the number of pixels in a 1280x800 display so in terms of interface size it will be the same, just more detail available the same as the Ipads with the 2048x1536 display have the same size of interface as their predecessors just a lot more detail.

eBay app on Android? Blown up phone version. iPad version? Designed for iPad and works and looks great.Facebook app on Android? Blown up phone version. iPad version? Much better.Unfortunately, that's just etc, etc, etc.

Why don't you just run your browser in desktop mode? Opera does this elegantly with a button in the bottom left, Dolphin lets you download an app that does it.

Using mobile versions of homepages, I agree, sucks. Especially on a 10" tablet, but why the hell are you doing this?

I am officially going to jump into the tablet pool when this is released. I've been sitting and waiting on Surface vs. Android, but I think a cheaper desktop/laptop for my "real" work plus this $400 dollar add on is a better alternative than hoping Surface will be an "all-in-one" solution.

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.